Nicole Kidman and Per Saari’s Blossom Films is set for another collaboration with Made Up Stories, this time coming together with Thirdborn for a feature adaptation of Gordon Reece’s 2011 debut novel Mice.
Justin Kurzel and writer Shaun Grant, known for collaborating on Snowtown, True History of the Kelly Gang, and The Narrow Road to the Deep North, are on board to direct and write the film, respectively.
Reece’s psychological thriller picks up with teenage girl Shelley having retreated with her mother to the quiet of the countryside after nearly being killed by bullies and going through her parents’ divorce.
However, their peaceful new reality is soon disturbed by an unwelcome guest that forces them to confront their moral convictions and what they are willing to accept.
Kidman will star in the film while also producing alongside Saari and Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, and Jodi Matterson, and Thirdborn’s Kurzel and Grant. Made Up Stories’ Jeanne Snow will executive produce with Thirdborn’s Nicole O’Donohue and Harriet Warner.
As yet, there is no information about when shooting will commence, or the locations that will be used.
Blossom and Made Up Stories, which are filming an adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s The Last Anniversary for Binge in Sydney, as well as starting principal photography on season two of Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers — also taken from a Moriarty novel — said Reece had told one of those stories that “gets under your skin and stays there”.
“We have been a fan of Justin and Shaun’s work for a long time and we are thrilled we have found the perfect story to come together on,” they said.
“We are so excited to be bringing this collaboration into the world.”
The Thirdborn producers also released a statement expressing their excitement to be “developing a horror story and to have the opportunity to work with Nicole in this genre”.
Reece said he had no doubt the combination of Kidman and Kurzel would make “electrifying cinema that we’ll be talking about for years”.
“The thought of an actress as staggeringly gifted as Nicole Kidman teaming up with Australia’s most daring and original director on the adaptation of Mice is hugely exciting,” he said.